With New Red Braids, Naomi Osaka Is Cruising In Olympics

Japan’s Naomi Osaka cruised into the third round of the Tokyo Olympics women’s singles with a 65-minute victory over Viktorija Golubic.

Second seed Osaka, the favourite for the gold medal following world number one Ashleigh Barty’s first-round exit, beat the Swiss 6-3 6-2.

Osaka will face Marketa Vondrousova, who beat Mihaela Buzarnescu 6-1 6-2, for a quarter-final spot.

World number one Novak Djokovic beat Germany’s Jan-Lennard Struff 6-4 6-3.

Djokovic is bidding for a first Olympic gold medal after winning bronze in Beijing 2008.

Great Britain’s Jamie Murray and Neal Skupski were knocked out of the men’s doubles in the second round, losing 6-3 6-4 to Japan’s Kei Nishikori and Ben McLachlan.

Osaka, 23, took an eight-week break before the Games in order to protect her mental health.

She described making her comeback in the Olympics as being an “interesting” experience.

“The flag is next to my name no matter what tournament I play, but I feel like the scale of this is much bigger,” she told American TV. “It’s something I’ve been waiting for for eight years.”